I met Lucía when I was in middle school. She was a very slender girl with the fairest skin I had ever seen; she had beautiful honey-colored eyes, waist-length hair, and lips so small they made her cheeks look fuller, even though her face was actually quite angular.
"You were looking at me, weren't you?"
She said, leaning in until she was almost touching my nose.
"Do you want to be my boyfriend? You like me, right?"
She said this as she kissed me. She didn't give me time to react. She took my hand and didn't let go for the rest of the break. After school, we walked to her house; it turned out her house was right behind mine—a truly strange coincidence. She asked me to hop over the wall to get to my place without having to walk all the way around the block. Back then, I was agile enough to clear the wall in a single leap. Once I was over, she kissed me again and told me we’d see each other at school the next day.
The next morning, I woke up to find her face right in front of mine. My mother had let her in so I would hurry up and get dressed. I asked her to leave the room for a moment because I was in my underwear. She went to the living room to chat with my mother while I showered and changed.
After breakfast, we walked to school and spent the whole day together. Over time, it became a routine. She would always come to my house before dawn; on a few occasions, she even helped my mother wash the dishes, but one time I found her doing my laundry. That struck me as going too far. I began to suspect that something strange was going on with that girl. I didn't know how to tell her things were moving too fast. She was very attentive to my belongings and quite possessive. She constantly talked about marriage and raising children, even though we were barely thirteen. That wasn't on my mind at all. I planned to go to high school and then study mathematics; I had no plans to get married—certainly not at such a young age. I began to feel stifled, so when the school year ended, I decided to go on vacation to Veracruz.
Two months later, when I returned, she told me she had been ill. Her mother asked me to come see her because she was deeply depressed, so I went over right away. When she saw me, she sprang up and hugged me, sobbing uncontrollably. Eventually, she dried her tears.
"Love, we have to break up. It’s for the best—for both of us."
That’s what she said as she pulled away, signaling a final goodbye.
Thirty years later, I ran into her by chance while I was shopping for a sweater.
"Hello, stranger,"
she whispered, almost right in my ear.
"You fool—look how you let me get away."
She said this as she walked away.
-Me estabas viendo, verdad-
Me dijo acercándose casi hasta tocar mi nariz.
- quieres ser mi novio, te gusto verdad-
Me dijo al tiempo que me besaba. No me dio tiempo de reaccionar.. Me tomó de la mano y ya no me volvió a soltar durante todo el descanso. Al salir de la secundaria nos fuimos caminando hasta su casa, resulta que su casa estaba a espaldas de la mía. Una coincidencia realmente extraña. Me pidió que me brincara la barda para llegar a mi casa sin necesidad de darle toda la vuelta a la manzana. En ese tiempo yo era muy ágil de la barda en apenas un brinco. Ya a través de la barda me volvió a besar y me dijo que al otro día nos veríamos en la secundaria.
Al otro día cuando desperté vi su rostro justo enfrente de mí. Mi madre la había dejado entrar para que yo me apurara a vestirme. Le pedí que saliera de la habitación por un momento porque yo estaba en ropa interior. Ella se fue a la sala a platicar con mi madre mientras yo me bañaba y me cambiaba de ropa.
Después de almorzar nos fuimos caminando a la secundaria y la pasamos todo el día juntos. Con el tiempo se hizo rutina. Siempre iba a mi casa cuando aún no amanecía, incluso en algunas ocasiones le ayudaba a mi madre a lavar los platos, pero en una ocasión la encontré lavando mi ropa. Eso ya se me hizo extremo. Empecé a sospechar que algo extraño estaba pasando con esa chica. No sabía cómo decirle que iba demasiado rápido. Era muy cuidadosa con mis cosas y bastante posesiva. Hablaba constantemente de matrimonio y de la educación de los hijos, pero apenas teníamos 13 años. Yo no tenía mente para esas cosas. Planeaba ir a la preparatoria y luego la Facultad de matemáticas, no tenía planes de casarme y menos a tan corta edad. Empecé a sentir algo sofocado hasta que terminó el ciclo escolar y Decidí irme de vacaciones a Veracruz.
Dos meses después, cuando regresé, me dijeron que ella había estado enferma. Su madre me pidió que fuera a verla a su casa porque estaba muy deprimida. Y fuí a verla en ese mismo rato. Cuando me vio, salto de laca y me abrazó mientras lloraba escandalosamente. Luego se seco las lágrimas.
-Amor, tenemos que terminar. Es por el bien de los dos-
Me dijo apartándose de mi en un adiós definitivo. .
Treinta años después me la encontré por casualidad mientras compraba un suéter.
-Hola extraño-
Me dijo casi al oído
-Que menso, como me dejaste ir-
Me dijo mientras se iba
Historia corta y pintura
@saulos